Yesterday we learned from Numbers 27:1-11 that God was in favor of justice for women as heirs to their father’s property. Today we find that while a woman had rights, she also had responsibilities.

Women Who Make Vows to the Lord

We studied the use of vows in Leviticus 27 (on February 26 in our Chronological Bibles). When a woman (or a man) wanted to offer special thanks to the Lord, or wanted to add emphasis to her prayers for help, she could vow something special to God. She might take a Nazirite vow and set herself apart for him for a set period of time. Or she might pledge something of value to God.

The vows that could be made included:

Vows of people—vv. 1-8

Vows of animals—vv. 9-13

Vowed houses—vv. 14-15

Vowed inheritance (family land) vv. 16-21

The problem for women was that unless they were single adults and independently wealthy, they didn’t own any of the things on that list. All of those items belonged to a woman’s father if she was still at home, or to her husband if she was married.

Agreeing Together About the Vow

Her father or husband had to agree with her if she vowed something of value because she usually was giving God something that also belonged to them. When a woman made a vow, her husband or father often had to pay. Which is not to say that it cost her nothing because what she offered was valuable to her, too.

A man could let his wife or daughter’s vow stand, or set it aside within twenty-four hours. In the case of Hannah, who vowed her firstborn son Samuel to the Lord, her husband let the vow stand. They brought Samuel to the tabernacle as soon as they could and he remained there the rest of his life.

If the father or husband nullified the vow, the Lord released the woman from fulfilling it. All of this called for clear communication in these important relationships. Nothing should be done on either side from spite or carelessness.

God wanted people to interpret the Law through the lens of love – love for God and other people. The expectation was that if a woman felt strongly enough about something to make a vow, she and her father or husband would work together to fulfill it. She would be careful not to make rash promises to God, and her husband or father would not be arbitrary in cancelling her vow.

“These are the regulations the Lord gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living at home.” Numbers 30:16

It’s pretty remarkable that a young woman’s opportunity to make vows was appreciated and protected in the Law.

Revenge on the Midianites

When the Moabites invited the Midianites to seduce Israel and cause them to sin in Numbers 25:1-18, the Israelites paid a high price. God sent a plague and 24,000 of them died before Phineas acted to stop the plague by killing two of the offenders with a spear.

After that God told Moses, “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.” Numbers 25:17-18

In Numbers 31:1-24 God told Moses that his final act as Israel’s leader would be to take vengeance on the Midianites. Moses raised an army of twelve thousand men from among the twelve tribes and sent them to Midian along with the priest Phineas and holy articles from the sanctuary. The Silver trumpets signaled that God had commanded this war.

Israel killed all of the men of Midian, including their five kings. They found the false prophet Balaam there, too, and put him to death with a sword. Balaam and these kings had orchestrated the actions of Midian against Israel.

Complete Destruction

The Israelites captured all of the women, children, flocks, herds and goods as plunder, then they burned all of the towns and camps to the ground. When they brought the captives and spoils of war back to Moses, he was angry with the commanders of his army.

“Have you allowed the women to live?” he asked them. “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people.” Numbers 31:15-16

Moses ordered the deaths of all of the boys and every Midianite woman who had slept with a man, but allowed the Israelites to keep all of the virgin girls alive. Eleazar looked into the Law and told the soldiers that everything made of metal in the plunder was to be passed through fire and washed with water. Anything not made of metal was washed with water.

The fighters had to stay outside the camp for seven days and after they washed their clothes they could come home.

Dividing the Spoils of War

We get an idea of the scope of this war by looking at the size of the plunder Israel brought back. There were 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 virgin women. Moses divided all of the plunder in half and gave the first half to the fighters who won it. A tribute of one person or animal in every five hundred was given back to the Lord and Eleazar was responsible to care for this contribution.

The second half of the plunder was divided among the twelve tribes and their tribute to the Lord was one person or animal in every fifty. The Levites benefitted from this gift.

After the commanders discovered that they had not lost a single man in the battle, they gathered up the gold articles they had captured and brought them to the Lord. Moses and Eleazar accepted them as a gift to the tabernacle and weighed in about 420 pounds of gold. This didn’t include the gold the soldiers had taken for themselves during the war.

Why Did God Destroy the Midianites?

The destruction of Midian is a hard story to read, but the Bible doesn’t soften it or explain it away. One of the reasons we should trust the Bible is that its truth is challenging to read. It doesn’t turn away from hard facts.

Why would God wipe out almost an entire nation of people?

The temptations the Midianites introduced to Israel struck at their moral and religious core. God meant it when he said Israel must not worship any other god. He also didn’t want Israel’s families defiled by illicit sexual activity. For these reasons, he got rid of everyone in Midian who was part of tempting Israel to sin.

Balaam died because he was a false prophet who plotted against God’s people. As long as he remained alive he would be Israel’s enemy. Balaam tried to get around God, but God prevailed.

God Hates Sin

God’s command to destroy Midian shows us how much he hated their sin. The Midianites knew who God was. They were descended from Abraham just as Israel was, but they had turned their backs on God and become idolaters. Their pagan religion included sexual immorality, the kind of sin that destroys families.

God appealed to Midian for over four hundred years while Israel was in Egypt, but they still tried to undermine his people and his plans as soon as they met Israel. God destroyed Midian to preserve Israel, the nation that worshiped him as its king.

Reading through the Old Testament gives us an opportunity to examine our own hearts. Is there a temptation you should turn away from, or a sin you should confess?

Today is a good day to ask the Lord to guide you. With his help you can walk away from the temptations that undermine your life and avoid the sins that might destroy you.

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” 1 Corinthians 10:13